Readers React: ‘Medicare for all’ but without deductibles? Not even Democrats should support that

To the editor: As a previously unenlightened supporter of “Medicare for all,” I dug into your editorial with gusto — until halfway through the first paragraph. You state that proponents want a “national health insurance program covering all Americans without charging premiums, deductibles or co-pays.”

Say what? Even those of us on Medicare have to pay deductibles and co-pays. Are progressive Democrats nuts?

It’s insane to have the federal government carry all medical costs without citizens having to pay something. Surely, a subsidy program like under the Affordable Care Act could be worked out for the poorest, otherwise the whole program is bound to be abused and financially impossible.

If progressives want something that has any chance of passing even the soon-to-be Democratic House, someone needs to put a brake on this proposed insanity. Someone needs to think this through; otherwise, this very progressive liberal balks at anything as nutty as the program Democrats are contemplating.

Charles Ruebsamen, Rancho Cucamonga

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To the editor: Everyone deserves the best healthcare possible (after all, we live only once). Single-payer healthcare can provide it without U.S. residents having to pay hefty and fast-growing premiums, co-pays or deductibles.

Other countries have found ways to pay for universal coverage; surely such a well-educated and wealthy nation as ours can do likewise. Eliminating the insurance companies that merely serve as middlemen would substantially cut costs, and there are a lot of other ways to reduce expenditures.

For example, why should a provider charge $4,000 for an MRI using equipment long since paid off, while all it takes is a few medical technicians and a doctor’s interpretation?

Surely, something as important as your health should not be determined by politics.

George Epstein, Los Angeles

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